Abstract
Carotenoids are a major class of natural, coloured pigments, ranging from the yellow, orange and red of many fruits, vegetables, flowers and autumn leaves, through to the colours of butterflies and crayfish. The bright colours of carotenoid pigments attract insects for pollination and dispersal of seeds, which are essential for reproduction. Carotenoids are essential components of the photosynthetic machinery, involved in the assembly of the photosystems, light-harvesting and photoprotection. They are the second most abundant pigment in nature and provide substrate derivatives for the production of phytohormones, such as abscisic acid and strigolactones. Fruits and vegetables are an essential dietary requirement for humans and provide carotenoid-derived micronutrients which promote health benefits including antioxidant activity, precursors for vitamin A biosynthesis, and prevention of macular degeneration. The main focus of this chapter is directed towards the biosynthesis, regulation, function and manipulation of carotenoid-derived micronutrients in plants and their benefits in human health.
Keywords
- Carotenoid Biosynthesis
- Carotenoid Accumulation
- Carotenoid Biosynthetic Pathway
- Lycopene Cyclase
- Methylerythritol Phosphate
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsReferences
Akiyama K, Matsuzaki K, Hayashi H (2005) Plant sesquiterpenes induce hyphal branching in arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi. Nature 435:824–827
Aluru MR, Bae H, Wu D, Rodermel SR (2001) The Arabidopsis immutans mutation affects plastid differentiation and the morphogenesis of white and green sectors in variegated plants. Plant Physiol 127:67–77
Arite T, Iwata H, Ohshima K, Maekawa M, Nakajima M, Kojima M, Sakakibara H, Kyozuka J (2007) DWARF10, an RMS1/MAX4/DAD1 ortholog, controls lateral bud outgrowth in rice. Plant J 51:1019–1029
Armstrong GA (1997) Genetics of eubacterial carotenoid biosynthesis: a colorful tale. Annu Rev Microbiol 51:629–659
Bartley GE, Scolnik PA (1993) cDNA cloning, expression during development, and genome mapping of PSY2, a second tomato gene encoding phytoene synthase. J Biol Chem 268:25718–25721
Bartley G, Scolnik P (1995) Plant carotenoids: pigments for photoprotection, visual attraction, and human health. Plant Cell 7:1027–1038
Bartley GE, Scolnik PA, Beyer P (1999) Two Arabidopsis thaliana carotene desaturases, phytoene desaturase and ζ-carotene desaturase, expressed in Escherichia coli, catalyze a poly-cis pathway to yield pro-lycopene. Eur J Biochem 259:396–402
Beveridge CA, Ross JJ, Murfet IC (1996) Branching in pea (action of genes Rms3 and Rms4). Plant Physiol 110:859–865
Beveridge CA, Symons GM, Turnbull CG (2000) Auxin inhibition of decapitation-induced branching is dependent on graft-transmissible signals regulated by genes Rms1 and Rms2. Plant Physiol 123:689–698
Beyer P (1989) Carotene biosynthesis in daffodil chromoplasts: on the membrane-integral desaturation and cyclization reactions. In: Boyer CD, Shannon JC, Hardison RC (eds) Physiology, biochemistry and genetics of nongreen plastids. Am Soc Plant Physiol, Rockville, MD, pp 157–170
Beyer P, Kleinig H (1991) Carotenoid biosynthesis in higher plants - membrane-bound desaturation and cyclization reactions in chromoplast membranes from Narcissus Peudonarcissus. Biol Chem Hoppe-Seyler 372:527–527
Beyer P, Nievelstein V, Albabili S, Bonk M, Kleinig H (1994) Biochemical aspects of carotene desaturation and cyclization in chromoplast membranes from Narcissus pseudonarcissus. Pure Appl Chem 66:1047–1056
Beyer P, Al-Babili S, Ye XD, Lucca P, Schaub P, Welsch R, Potrykus I (2002) Golden rice: introducing the β-carotene biosynthesis pathway into rice endosperm by genetic engineering to defeat vitamin A deficiency. J Nutr 132:506S–510S
Booker J, Auldridge M, Wills S, McCarty D, Klee H, Leyser C (2004) MAX3/CCD7 is a carotenoid cleavage dioxygenase required for the synthesis of a novel plant signaling molecule. Curr Biol 14:1232–1238
Bouis HE (2007) Micronutrient fortification of plants through plant breeding: can it improve nutrition in man at low cost? Proc Nutr Soc 62:403–411
Bouvier F, Dogbo O, Camara B (2003) Biosynthesis of the food and cosmetic plant pigment bixin (annatto). Science 300:2089–2091
Bramley PM (2002) Regulation of carotenoid formation during tomato fruit ripening and development. J Exp Bot 53:2107–2113
Britton G (1998) Overview of carotenoid biosynthesis, vol 3. Birkhäuser, Basel
Burkhardt PK, Beyer P, Wunn J, Kloti A, Armstrong GA, Schledz M, von Lintig J, Potrykus I (1997) Transgenic rice (Oryza sativa) endosperm expressing daffodil (Narcissus pseudonarcissus) phytoene synthase accumulates phytoene, a key intermediate of provitamin A biosynthesis. Plant J 11:1071–1078
Carol P, Stevenson D, Bisanz C, Breitenbach J, Sandmann G, Mache R, Coupland G, Kuntz M (1999) Mutations in the Arabidopsis gene immutans cause a variegated phenotype by inactivating a chloroplast terminal oxidase associated with phytoene desaturation. Plant Cell 11:57–68
Cazzonelli C, Cuttriss A, Cossetto S, Pye W, Crisp P, Whelan J, Finnegan E, Turnbull C, Pogson B (2009a) Regulation of carotenoid composition and shoot branching in Arabidopsis by a chromatin modifying histone methyltransferase, SDG8. Plant Cell 21(1):39–53
Cazzonelli CI, Millar T, Finnegan J, Pogson BJ (2009b) Promoting gene expression in plants by permissive histone lysine methylation. Plant Signaling Behavior 4(6):484-488
Cazzonelli CI, Yin K, Pogson BJ (2009c) Potential implications for epigenetic regulation of carotenoid biosynthesis during root and shoot development. Plant Signaling Behavior 4(4):339–341
Cheng Q (2006) Structural diversity and functional novelty of new carotenoid biosynthesis genes. J Ind Microbiol Biotechnol 33:552–559
Chinnusamy V, Gong Z, Zhu JK (2008) Abscisic acid-mediated epigenetic processes in plant development and stress responses. J Integr Plant Biol 50:1187–1195
Coleman H, Chew E (2007) Nutritional supplementation in age-related macular degeneration. Curr Opin Ophthalmol 18:220–223
Cook C, Whichard L, Wall M, Egley G, Coggon P (1972) Germination stimulants. II. The structure of strigol - a potent seed germination stimulant for witchweed (Striga lutea Lour). J Am Chem Soc 94:6198–6199
Cunningham FJ, Gantt E (1998) Genes and enzymes of carotenoid biosynthesis in plants. Annu Rev Plant Physiol Plant Mol Biol 49:557–583
Cunningham FX Jr, Gantt E (2001) One ring or two? Determination of ring number in carotenoids by lycopene epsilon-cyclases. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 98:2905–2910
Cunningham FX Jr, Gantt E (2005) A study in scarlet: enzymes of ketocarotenoid biosynthesis in the flowers of Adonis aestivalis. Plant J 41:478–492
Cunningham FX, Pogson B, Sun ZR, McDonald KA, DellaPenna D, Gantt E (1996) Functional analysis of the beta and epsilon lycopene cyclase enzymes of Arabidopsis reveals a mechanism for control of cyclic carotenoid formation. Plant Cell 8:1613–1626
Cuttriss AJ, Pogson BJ (2004) Carotenoids. In: Davies KM (ed) Plant pigments and their manipulation, vol 14. CRC Press, Boca Raton, FL, pp 57–91
Cuttriss AJ, Chubb A, Alawady A, Grimm B, Pogson B (2007) Regulation of lutein biosynthesis and prolamellar body formation in Arabidopsis. Funct Plant Biol 34:663–672
Davies KM (2007) Genetic modification of plant metabolism for human health benefits. Mutat Res 622:122–137
Del Campo JA, Garcia-Gonzalez M, Guerrero MG (2007) Outdoor cultivation of microalgae for carotenoid production: current state and perspectives. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 74:1163–1174
DellaPenna D, Pogson BJ (2006) Vitamin synthesis in plants: tocopherols and carotenoids. Annu Rev Plant Biol 57:711–738
Fraser PD, Bramley PM (2004) The biosynthesis and nutritional uses of carotenoids. Prog Lipid Res 43:228–265
Fraser PD, Kiano JW, Truesdale MR, Schuch W, Bramley PM (1999) Phytoene synthase-2 enzyme activity in tomato does not contribute to carotenoid synthesis in ripening fruit. Plant Mol Biol 40:687–698
Fraser PD, Bramley P, Seymour GB (2001) Effect of the Cnr mutation on carotenoid formation during tomato fruit ripening. Phytochemistry 58:75–79
Fraser PD, Enfissi EM, Bramley PM (2009) Genetic engineering of carotenoid formation in tomato fruit and the potential application of systems and synthetic biology approaches. Arch Biochem Biophys 483(2):196–204
Gerjets T, Sandmann G (2006) Ketocarotenoid formation in transgenic potato. J Exp Bot 57:3639–3645
Giorio G, Stigliani AL, D’Ambrosio C (2008) Phytoene synthase genes in tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) - new data on the structures, the deduced amino acid sequences and the expression patterns. FEBS J 275:527–535
Giuliano G, Diretto G (2007) Of chromoplasts and chaperones. Trends Plant Sci 12:529–531
Giuliano G, Tavazza R, Diretto G, Beyer P, Taylor MA (2008) Metabolic engineering of carotenoid biosynthesis in plants. Trends Biotechnol 26:139–145
Goff SA, Klee HJ (2006) Plant volatile compounds: sensory cues for health and nutritional value? Science 311:815–819
Gomez-Roldan V, Fermas S, Brewer PB, Puech-Pages V, Dun EA, Pillot JP, Letisse F, Matusova R, Danoun S, Portais JC, Bouwmeester H, Becard G, Beveridge CA, Rameau C, Rochange SF (2008) Strigolactone inhibition of shoot branching. Nature 455:189–194
Gruszecki WI, Grudzinski W, Banaszek-Glos A, Matula M, Kernen P, Krupa Z, Sielewiesiuk J (1999) Xanthophyll pigments in light-harvesting complex II in monomolecular layers: localisation, energy transfer and orientation. Biochim Biophys Acta-Bioenerg 1412:173–183
Hagenimana V, Carey EE, Gichuki ST, Oyunga MA, Imungi JK (1999) Carotenoid contents in fresh, dried and processed sweetpotato products. Ecol Food Nutr 37:455–473
Herbers K (2003) Vitamin production in transgenic plants. J Plant Physiol 160:821–829
Hirschberg J (1998) Molecular biology of carotenoid biosynthesis. In: Britton G, Liaaen-Jensen S, Pfander H (eds) Biosynthesis and metabolism, vol 3. Birkhäuser, Basel, pp 149–194
Hirschberg J (2001) Carotenoid biosynthesis in flowering plants. Curr Opin Plant Biol 4:210–218
Hoa TT, Al-Babili S, Schaub P, Potrykus I, Beyer P (2003) Golden Indica and Japonica rice lines amenable to deregulation. Plant Physiol 133:161–169
Hornero-Mendez D, de Guevara RGL, Minguez-Mosquera MI (2000) Carotenoid biosynthesis changes in five red pepper (Capsicum annuum L.) cultivars during ripening. Cultivar selection for breeding. J Agric Food Chem 48:3857–3864
Howitt CA, Pogson BJ (2006) Carotenoid accumulation and function in seeds and non-green tissues. Plant Cell Environ 29:435–445
Howitt C, Cavanagh C, Bowerman A, Cazzonelli C, Rampling L, Mimica J, Pogson B (2009) Regulation of wheat endosperm lutein content by sequence alterations in eLCY, and activation of a cryptic exon in phytoene synthase. Funct Integr Genomics 9:363–373
Isaacson T, Ronen G, Zamir D, Hirschberg J (2002) Cloning of tangerine from tomato reveals a carotenoid isomerase essential for the production of beta-carotene and xanthophylls in plants. Plant Cell 14:333–342
Jackson H, Braun CL, Ernst H (2008) The chemistry of novel xanthophyll carotenoids. Am J Cardiol 101:50D–57D
Jayaraj J, Devlin R, Punja Z (2008) Metabolic engineering of novel ketocarotenoid production in carrot plants. Transgenic Res 17:489–501
Jin E, Feth B, Melis A (2003) A mutant of the green alga Dunaliella salina constitutively accumulates zeaxanthin under all growth conditions. Biotechnol Bioeng 81:115–124
Johnson E, Schroeder W (1995) Microbial carotenoids. Biochem Eng Biotechnol 53:119–178
Josse EM, Simkin AJ, Gaffe J, Laboure AM, Kuntz M, Carol P (2000) A plastid terminal oxidase associated with carotenoid desaturation during chromoplast differentiation. Plant Physiol 123:1427–1436
Jyonouchi H, Sun S, Tomita Y, Gross MD (1995) Astaxanthin, a carotenoid without vitamin A activity, augments antibody responses in cultures including T-helper cell clones and suboptimal doses of antigen. J Nutr 125:2483–2492
Kim J, DellaPenna D (2006) Defining the primary route for lutein synthesis in plants: the role of Arabidopsis carotenoid β-ring hydroxylase CYP97A3. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 103:3474–3479
Kirk J, Tilney-Bassett R (1978) Proplastids, etioplasts, amyloplasts, chromoplasts and other plastids. In: Kirk JTO, Tilney-Bassett RAE (eds) The plastids. Their chemistry, structure, growth and inheritance, Elsevier/North Holland Biomedical Press, Amsterdam, pp 217–239
Kishimoto S, Maoka T, Nakayama M, Ohmiya A (2004) Carotenoid composition in petals of chrysanthemum (Dendranthema grandiflorum (Ramat.) Kitamura). Phytochemistry 65:2781–2787
Krinsky NI, Johnson EJ (2005) Carotenoid actions and their relation to health and disease. Mol Aspects Med 26:459–516
Li J, Du LF (2001) A new approach to detect plant thykaloid phosphoprotein in vivo. Prog Biochem Biophys 28:740–743
Li F, Murillo C, Wurtzel ET (2007) Maize Y9 encodes a product essential for 15-cis-zeta-carotene isomerization. Plant Physiol 144:1181–1189
Lindgren LO, Stalberg KG, Hoglund A-S (2003) Seed-specific overexpression of an endogenous Arabidopsis phytoene synthase gene results in delayed germination and increased levels of carotenoids, chlorophyll, and abscisic acid. Plant Physiol 132:779–785
Lopez-Juez E, Pyke KA (2005) Plastids unleashed: their development and their integration in plant development. Int J Dev Biol 49:557–577
Lorenz RT, Cysewski GR (2000) Commercial potential for Haematococcus microalgae as a natural source of astaxanthin. Trends Biotechnol 18:160–167
Lu S, Li L (2008) Carotenoid metabolism: biosynthesis, regulation, and beyond. J Integr Plant Biol 50:778–785
Lu S, Van Eck J, Zhou X, Lopez A, O’Halloran D, Cosman K, Conlin B, Paolillo D, Garvin D, Vrebalov J, Kochian L, Kupper H, Earle E, Cao J, Li L (2006) The cauliflower Or gene encodes a DnaJ cysteine-rich domain-containing protein that mediates high-levels of β-carotene accumulation. Plant Cell 18:3594–3605
Mann V, Harker M, Pecker I, Hirschberg J (2000) Metabolic engineering of astaxanthin production in tobacco flowers. Nature Biotechnol 18:888–892
Matusova R, Rani K, Verstappen FW, Franssen MC, Beale MH, Bouwmeester HJ (2005) The strigolactone germination stimulants of the plant-parasitic Striga and Orobanche spp. are derived from the carotenoid pathway. Plant Physiol 139:920–934
Mayer MP, Nievelstein V, Beyer P (1992) Purification and characterization of a NADPH dependent oxidoreductase from chromoplasts of Narcissus pseudonarcissus: a redox-mediator possibly involved in carotene desaturation. Plant Physiol Biochem 30:389–398
Misawa N, Yamano S, Linden H, de Felipe MR, Lucas M, Ikenaga H, Sandmann G (1993) Functional expression of the Erwinia uredovora carotenoid biosynthesis gene Crtl in transgenic plants showing an increase of β-carotene biosynthesis activity and resistance to the bleaching herbicide norflurazon. Plant J 4:833–840
Misawa N, Masamoto K, Hori T, Ohtani T, Boger P, Sandmann G (1994) Expression of an Erwinia phytoene desaturase gene not only confers multiple resistance to herbicides interfering with carotenoid biosynthesis but also alters xanthophyll metabolism in transgenic plants. Plant J 6:481–489
Moehs C, Tian L, Osteryoung K, DellaPenna D (2001) Analysis of carotenoid biosynthetic gene expression during marigold petal development. Plant Mol Biol 45:281–293
Morris SE, Turnbull CG, Murfet IC, Beveridge CA (2001) Mutational analysis of branching in pea. Evidence that Rms1 and Rms5 regulate the same novel signal. Plant Physiol 126:1205–1213
Morris WL, Ducreux LJM, Hedden P, Millam S, Taylor MA (2006) Overexpression of a bacterial 1-deoxy-D-xylulose 5-phosphate synthase gene in potato tubers perturbs the isoprenoid metabolic network: implications for the control of the tuber life cycle. J Exp Bot 57:3007–3018
Nambara E, Marion-Poll A (2005) Abscisic acid biosynthesis and catabolism. Annu Rev Plant Biol 56:165–185
Nassar NMA (2004) Cassava: Some ecological and physiological aspects related to plant breeding. Geneconserve 13:229–245
Nievelstein V, Vandekerckhove J, Tadros MH, Lintig JV, Nitschke W, Beyer P (1995) Carotene desaturation is linked to a respiratory redox pathway in Narcissus-Pseudonarcissus chromoplast membranes - involvement of a 23-KDa oxygen-evolving-complex-like protein. Eur J Biochem 233:864–872
Niyogi KK (1999) Photoprotection revisited: Genetic and molecular approaches. Annu Rev Plant Physiol Plant Mol Biol 50:333–359
Niyogi KK (2000) Safety valves for photosynthesis. Curr Opin Plant Biol 3:455–460
Norris SR, Barrette TR, DellaPenna D (1995) Genetic dissection of carotenoid synthesis in Arabidopsis defines plastoquinone as an essential component of phytoene desaturation. Plant Cell 7:2139–2149
Paine JA, Shipton CA, Chaggar S (2005) A new version of Golden Rice with increased pro-vitamin A content. Nature Biotechnol 23:482–487
Park H, Kreunen SS, Cuttriss AJ, DellaPenna D, Pogson BJ (2002) Identification of the carotenoid isomerase provides insight into carotenoid biosynthesis, prolamellar body formation, and photomorphogenesis. Plant Cell 14:321–332
Pfundel E, Bilger W (1994) Regulation and possible function of the violaxanthin cycle. Photosynth Res 42:89–109
Phillip D, Young AJ (1995) Occurrence of the carotenoid lactucaxanthin in higher plant LHC II. Photosynth Res 43:273–282
Phillips MA, Leon P, Boronat A, Rodriguez-Concepcion M (2008) The plastidial MEP pathway: unified nomenclature and resources. Trends Plant Sci 13:619–623
Pichersky E (2008) Raging hormones in plants. Nature Chem Biol 4:584–586
Pogson BJ, Rissler HM (2000) Genetic manipulation of carotenoid biosynthesis and photoprotection. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 355:1395–1403
Pogson B, McDonald KA, Truong M, Britton G, DellaPenna D (1996) Arabidopsis carotenoid mutants demonstrate that lutein is not essential for photosynthesis in higher plants. Plant Cell 8:1627–1639
Pogson BJ, Niyogi KK, Bjorkman O, DellaPenna D (1998) Altered xanthophyll compositions adversely affect chlorophyll accumulation and nonphotochemical quenching in Arabidopsis mutants. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 95:13324–13329
Pogson BJ, Rissler HM, Frank HA (2006) The roles of carotenoids in photosystem II of higher plants. In: Wydrzynski T, Satoh K (eds) Photosystem II: The water/plastoquinone oxidoreductase in photosynthesis, vol 22. Springer, Dordrecht, pp 516–536
Pogson BJ, Woo NS, Forster B, Small ID (2008) Plastid signalling to the nucleus and beyond. Trends Plant Sci 13:602–609
Ralley L, Enfissi EMA, Misawa N, Schuch W, Bramley PM, Fraser PD (2004) Metabolic engineering of ketocarotenoid formation in higher in higher plants. Plant J 39:477–486
Rani K, Zwanenburg B, Sugimoto Y, Yoneyama K, Bouwmeester HJ (2008) Biosynthetic considerations could assist the structure elucidation of host plant produced rhizosphere signalling compounds (strigolactones) for arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi and parasitic plants. Plant Physiol Biochem 46:617–626
Ravanello MP, Ke D, Alvarez J, Huang B, Shewmaker CK (2003) Coordinate expression of multiple bacterial carotenoid genes in canola leading to altered carotenoid production. Metab Eng 5:255–263
Rock CD, Zeevaart JA (1991) The aba mutant of Arabidopsis thaliana is impaired in epoxy-carotenoid biosynthesis. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 88:7496–7499
Römer S, Fraser PD, Kiano JW, Shipton CA, Misawa N, Schuch W, Bramley PM (2000) Elevation of the provitamin A content of transgenic tomato plants. Nature Biotechnol 18:666–669
Römer S, Lubeck J, Kauder F, Steiger S, Adomat C, Sandmann G (2002) Genetic engineering of a zeaxanthin-rich potato by antisense inactivation and co-suppression of carotenoid epoxidation. Metab Eng 4:263–272
Sandmann G, Römer S, Fraser PD (2006) Understanding carotenoid metabolism as a necessity for genetic engineering of crop plants. Metab Eng 8:291–302
SanGiovanni JP, Chew EY, Clemons TE, Ferris III FL, Gensler G, Lindblad AS, Milton RC, Seddon JM, Sperduto RD (2007) The relationship of dietary carotenoid and vitamin A, E and C intake with age-related macular degeneration in a case-control study: AREDS Report No 22. Arch Ophthalmol 125:1225–1232
Schnurr G, Misawa N, Sandmann G (1996) Expression, purification and properties of lycopene cyclase from Erwinia uredovora. Biochem J 315:869–874
Schwab W, Davidovich-Rikanati R, Lewinsohn E (2008) Biosynthesis of plant-derived flavor compounds. Plant J 54:712–732
Schwartz SH, Tan BC, McCarty DR, Welch W, Zeevaart JAD (2003) Substrate specificity and kinetics for VP14, a carotenoid cleavage dioxygenase in the ABA biosynthetic pathway. Biochim Biophys Acta 1619:9–14
Schwartz SH, Qin X, Loewen MC (2004) The biochemical characterization of two carotenoid cleavage enzymes from Arabidopsis indicates that a carotenoid-derived compound inhibits lateral branching. J Biol Chem 279:46940–46945
Seo M, Koshiba T (2002) Complex regulation of ABA biosynthesis in plants. Trends Plant Sci 7:41–48
Shewmaker C, Sheehy JA, Daley M, Colburn S, DY K (1999) Seed-specific overexpression of phyoene synthase: increase in carotenoids and other metabolic effects. Plant J 20:401–412
Simkin AJ, Moreau H, Kuntz M, Pagny G, Lin C, Tanksley S, McCarthy J (2008) An investigation of carotenoid biosynthesis in Coffea canephora and Coffea arabica. J Plant Physiol 165:1087–1106
Snowden KC, Simkin AJ, Janssen BJ, Templeton KR, Loucas HM, Simons JL, Karunairetnam S, Gleave AP, Clark DG, Klee HJ (2005) The Decreased apical dominance 1/Petunia hybrida CAROTENOID CLEAVAGE DIOXYGENASE8 gene affects branch production and plays a role in leaf senescence, root growth, and flower development. Plant Cell 17:746–759
Sorefan K, Booker J, Haurogne K, Goussot M, Bainbridge K, Foo E, Chatfield S, Ward S, Beveridge C, Rameau C, Leyser O (2003) MAX4 and RMS1 are orthologous dioxygenase-like genes that regulate shoot branching in Arabidopsis and pea. Genes Dev 17:1469–1474
Stirnberg P, van De Sande K, Leyser HM (2002) MAX1 and MAX2 control shoot lateral branching in Arabidopsis. Development 129:1131–1141
Suzuki S, Nishihara M, Nakatsuka T, Misawa N, Ogiwara I, Yamamura S (2007) Flower color alteration in Lotus japonicus by modification of the carotenoid biosynthetic pathway. Plant Cell Rep 26:951–959
Tanaka Y, Ohmiya A (2008) Seeing is believing: engineering anthocyanin and carotenoid biosynthetic pathways. Curr Opin Biotechnol 19(2):190–197
Tardy F, Havaux M (1997) Thylakoid membrane fluidity and thermostability during the operation of the xanthophyll cycle in higher-plant chloroplasts. Biochim Biophys Acta 1330:179–193
Tian L, DellaPenna D (2004) Progress in understanding the origin and functions of carotenoid hydroxylases in plants. Arch Biochem Biophys 430:22–29
Tian L, Musetti V, Kim J, Magallanes-Lundback M, DellaPenna D (2004) The Arabidopsis LUT1 locus encodes a member of the cytochrome P450 family that is required for carotenoid epsilon-ring hydroxylation activity. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 101:402–407
Tomes ML, Quackenbush FL, Nelsom OE, North B (1953) The inheritance of carotenoid pigment systems in the tomato. Genetics 38:117–127
Tzvetkova-Chevolleau T, Hutin C, Noel LD, Goforth R, Carde JP, Caffarri S, Sinning I, Groves M, Teulon JM, Hoffman NE, Henry R, Havaux M, Nussaume L (2007) Canonical signal recognition particle components can be bypassed for posttranslational protein targeting in chloroplasts. Plant Cell 19:1635–1648
Umehara M, Hanada A, Yoshida S, Akiyama K, Arite T, Takeda-Kamiya N, Magome H, Kamiya Y, Shirasu K, Yoneyama K, Kyozuka J, Yamaguchi S (2008) Inhibition of shoot branching by new terpenoid plant hormones. Nature 455:195–200
Van Norman JM, Sieburth LE (2007) Dissecting the biosynthetic pathway for the bypass1 root-derived signal. Plant J 49:619–628
Van Norman JM, Frederick RL, Sieburth LE (2004) BYPASS1 negatively regulates a root-derived signal that controls plant architecture. Curr Biol 14:1739–1746
Verma PK, Upadhyaya KC (1998) A multiplex RT-PCR assay for analysis of relative transcript levels of different members of multigene families: application to Arabidopsis calmodulin gene family. Biochem Mol Biol Int 46:699–706
Vishnevetsky M, Ovadis M, Vainstein A (1999) Carotenoid sequestration in plants: the role of carotenoid-associated proteins. Trends Plant Sci 4:232–235
von Lintig J, Vogt K (2000) Molecular identification of an enzyme cleaving β-carotene to retinal. J Biol Chem 275:11915–11920
Welsch R, Beyer P, Hugueney P, Kleinig H, von Lintig J (2000) Regulation and activation of phytoene synthase, a key enzyme in carotenoid biosynthesis, during photomorphogenesis. Planta 211:846–854
Welsch R, Wust F, Bar C, Al-Babili S, Beyer P (2008) A third phytoene synthase is devoted to abiotic stress-induced abscisic acid formation in rice and defines functional diversification of phytoene synthase genes. Plant Physiol 147:367–380
West KP (2003) Vitamin A deficiency disorders in children and women. Food Nutr Bull 24:78–90
Wilson P, Estavillo G, Field K, Pornsiriwong P, Carroll A, Howell K, Woo N, Lake J, Smith S, Millar A, von Caemmerer S, Pogson B (2009) The nucleotidase/phosphatase, SAL1, is a negative regulator of drought tolerance in Arabidopsis. Plant J 58(2):299–317
Wu D, Wright DA, Wetzel C, Voytas DF, Rodermel S (1999) The IMMUTANS variegation locus of Arabidopsis defines a mitochondrial alternative oxidase homolog that functions during early chloroplast biogenesis. Plant Cell 11:43–56
Wyss A, Wirtz G, Woggon W, Brugger R, Wyss M, Friedlein A, Bachmann H, Hunziker W (2000) Cloning and expression of β-carotene, 15,15′-dioxygenase. Biochem Biophys Res Comm 271:334–336
Ye X, Al-Babili S, Klöti A, Zhang J, Lucca P, Beyer P, Potrykus I (2000) Engineering the provitamin A (-carotene) biosynthetic pathway into (carotenoid-free) rice endosperm. Science 287:303–305
Yu F, Fu A, Aluru M, Park S, Xu Y, Liu H, Liu X, Foudree A, Nambogga M, Rodermel S (2007) Variegation mutants and mechanisms of chloroplast biogenesis. Plant Cell Environ 30:350–365
Zhou X, Van Eck J, Li L, El-Gewely MR (2008) Use of the cauliflower Or gene for improving crop nutritional quality. Biotechnol Annu Rev 14:171–190
Zhu C, Naqvi S, Capell T, Christou P (2008) Metabolic engineering of ketocarotenoid biosynthesis in higher plants. Arch Biochem Biophys 483:182–190
Zou J, Zhang S, Zhang W, Li G, Chen Z, Zhai W, Zhao X, Pan X, Xie Q, Zhu L (2006) The rice HIGH-TILLERING DWARF1 encoding an ortholog of Arabidopsis MAX3 is required for negative regulation of the outgrowth of axillary buds. Plant J 48:687–698
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2010 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Cazzonelli, C.I., Nisar, N., Hussain, D., Carmody, M.E., Pogson, B.J. (2010). Biosynthesis and Regulation of Carotenoids in Plants—Micronutrients, Vitamins and Health Benefits. In: Pua, E., Davey, M. (eds) Plant Developmental Biology - Biotechnological Perspectives. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-04670-4_7
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-04670-4_7
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-642-04669-8
Online ISBN: 978-3-642-04670-4
eBook Packages: Biomedical and Life SciencesBiomedical and Life Sciences (R0)